No Power in Government Electricity Reforms – NZCTU

The Government’s proposed package of reforms to the electricity sector will do nothing to stem job losses, or manage the cost of living for New Zealanders said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “The Government is tackling non-existent problems such as financing investment, while dodging the real issues, such as delivering new generation and excessive dividend distribution. It’s time that New Zealand’s electricity supply was brought back into public hands, not just further mismanaged.”

“The Government’s proposals amount to doubling down on the problem which will compound a broken system. Jobs are being lost on a weekly basis across New Zealand and high electricity prices are contributing to those losses. Households faced an average 11.4% increase in electricity prices. Yet the best thing that the Government can do is write a sternly worded letter to the Generators.

“The Government claims that it wishes to ‘improve electricity market transparency and information’, yet it supported the Electricity Authority stopping the provision of information on electricity market margins earlier this year.

“Instead of getting on with fixing the electricity system, the Government has sought to deliver an LNG terminal which will be years away – when renewable energy projects in New Zealand could be started now.”

Renney said, “This Government has failed to address the challenges inherent in our current electricity market. The NZCTU believes that electricity is a public utility, rather than a source of profit. Even the Government’s own press release states that the market has failed to invest, and we are now paying the price. The weak package put forward by Ministers today shows how much better a publicly owned electricity system, as proposed by the NZCTU, would be for the future of New Zealand.”